Carfield
Mar 19, 02, 2:35 am
Dear folks,
I have just returned from numerous trips, including part of a Star Alliance RTW trip. I flew British Midland and Lauda Air, which were excellent in terms of service. SQ continued to be good, but the cutback in food was getting too much. Northwest was a major disappointment and Continental was a good carrier. The trip reports will divide into many entries and I hope you will enjoy them. They will be posted as I complete them.
March 4, 2002
CO 98 HKG-EWR Lv1220 Arr1500
Boeing 777-200ER N78003
The flight began with an excellent check in experience. There were two J lines opened and the waiting time was pretty minimal with only a party in front of me. The Business First concierge was hanging around the desks and gave me her card immediately. Her name was Ada and she was extremely nice. She wrote out the lounge invitations into EWR and made sure that I knew the transfer process. The check in agent was also friendly and she apologized for the long check in time… I honestly did not find this check in process to be too excessively long. With the new security features, they were all trying the best to finish the check in. Priority tags were already placed and they even asked me for my business card, so they could make a personalized tag for me. I was surprised at the high level of ground services, which was handled by Dragon Air. I went to the Dragon Air lounge, which was excellent with wide ranges of beverage and snacks, including sandwiches, dim sum, and soup, but of course, CX the Wing is still the best. Gate today was 22, which was pretty close to the main terminal, and was a nice location - no need to take the underground. Boarding time was 11:30am and there was secondary searches for random parties. I boarded late, as I wanted to talk on my mobile a bit longer. Unlike other Continental flights, no pre-flight beverages were offered. Menus and amenity kits were handed out as we boarded, and the flight attendants today were a bit manual - follow the book type - not unfriendly, but normal. Door was closed early and we pushed back nine minutes early. We took off from Runway 7R at 12:28pm.
Flying time was fourteen hours and fifty four minutes. We first climbed to 29,000ft as we headed towards Taipei and Okinawa, Japan. We climbed to 33,000ft as we cruised along the coast of Japan. Then we climbed to 35,000ft as we got into the Siberian coast and into the Bristol Bay of Alaska. We passed through Anchorage and climbed once again to 37,000ft into the Yukon terriortory of Canada. We passed by Whitehorse, Flin Fon of Manitoba, Thunder Bay, Lake Superior, Sault Sainte Marie, and descended to 33,000ft as we passed by Toronto. Then we began our descent at Ithaca and made our way to Newark.
Cabin service began with hot towels at 12:48pm and linen was placed on our tables, with beverage and nuts service next. As usual, appetizers were served in a cart, as well as cheese, fruit, and dessert. Here is the menu transcript.
TO BEGIN
Warm roasted nuts served with your preferred cocktail or beverage
APPETIZER CART
Smoked tuna and saffron shrimp with cocktail sauce
Black Forest ham and air-dried beef with melon
Very nice appetizers… I like the ham and melon…
SALAD
Fresh seasonal greens including iceberg and romaine lettuce, lollo rosso and frisée with cucumber, red bell pepper and crispy noodles
Offered with your choice of ginger soy or creamy herb dressing
Freshly baked bread and assorted rolls with butter
hard & soft rolls with the sourdough loaves
MAIN COURSES
The Chef's Selection
Grilled veal chop offered with morel mushroom sauce, accompanied by mashed potatoes with fried onions
Salsify with herb butter Grilled cherry tomato Broccoli
Breast of Chicken
Grilled breast of chicken complemented by cognac sauce, served with a stir-fried vegetable mix including carrots, bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms and red and green bell peppers
Steamed white rice Carrot and daikon julienne
Turbot
Seared turbot enhanced by lemon herb sauce, presented with sliced carrot and zucchini
Turned potatoes with parsley Sautéed spinach with butter
Chinese Noodle Bowl
Flat egg noodles accompanied by sliced beef with black bean sauce, red bell pepper and choy sum
Steamed white rice is available upon request to accompany any entree
I had this entrée, which was very good, especially the use of flat noodles. It was much better than the pasta with Chinese sauce on the EWR to HKG route.
FRUIT AND CHEESE
Select cheeses accompanied by fresh seasonal fruit, assorted cheese crackers and rolls, served with Port wine
Gouda, Cheddar, and Camembert cheese with crackers, & fruit includes papaya, orange, grapes, & pineapples
DESSERT CART
Featuring vanilla ice cream offered with your choice of toppings or warm fruit cobbler with vanilla ice cream
After ice cream sundae, I was pretty full with lunch. Bottles of Vittel mineral water were passed out, with more bottles placed in the Sky Snack station. Then I felt right to sleep, as I stayed up pretty late the previous evening.
SKYSNACKSTM
A selection of light snacks and refreshments will be available.
Corn chips, potato chips, salad pretz (bread sticks), cereal bar, Chinese cookies, biscotti, and the disgusting summer harvest mix were featured. The snacks were gone pretty quickly, but the F/As tried to refill the basket.
*****
At about 6:30pm Hong Kong time, the refreshment service began with a round of hot towel and set up. I personally found the refreshment was served too early. I think the F/As can wait for another hour and half before beginning the refreshment service, as Hong Kong people went to dinner pretty late… at around 8pm. Anyway, the F/A serving our sections seem to be a bit lazy because she did not offer a separate beverage service… only water. However, on the other side, the F/A made sure that everyone got a beverage of the choice. It really looked bad, when your colleague was doing the complete service. Anyway, it was just a minor detail.
MID-FLIGHT REFRESHMENT
Chinese Noodle Soup
Roast duck and Lai-fan rice noodle soup accented by choy sum, carrots and yellow chives
Excellent noodles… they are real local noodles, not just instant noodles. Everyone got a bowl of noodles as starters and most Americans enjoy the bowl of noodles.
*****
Assortment of Dim Sum
Chicken bun accompanied by siu mai and dumpling
Thai chile sauce Soy sauce
The dim sum was much better than the EWR-HKG segment. But the portion was a bit small, compared to the sandwiches.
Or
Selection of Open-faced Sandwiches
Roast beef with gherkin pickle
Zucchini, sun-dried tomato and grilled bell pepper
Smoked salmon and capers
Chocolate
Truffles were served with a choice of white, milk, or dark chocolate flavor
At about 1:30am in Hong Kong, the light meal service began with another round of hot towels. Individual set up with a bread basket, consisting of croissants, crack rolls, and muffin, began the service.
LIGHT MEAL
Fresh seasonal fruit
2 pineapple slices, melon, ½ strawberry, papaya, and grapefruits were presented.
Assorted breads including crusty rolls, wheat croissants and pineapple buns with butter and strawberry preserves
*****
Rice Bowl
Egg fried rice with char-siu pork
Sautéed diced carrot, mushroom, celery and peas
Very nice rice bowl and I especially recommended the Chinese food selection on the HKG outbound flight, especially the HKG kitchen prepared the food.
Leek and Bacon Quiche
Offered with grilled chicken apple sausage, grilled Canadian bacon and a cherry tomato
Congee
Traditional Chinese rice soup
accompanied by sliced beef with roasted peanuts
Szechuan cucumbers Pickled cucumber
*****
Chocolate
Lucullus - a Hong Kong famous brand was featured. Milk and Dark chocolate truffles…
We began our descent at 2:45am and a video about Newark was presented. I really liked how Continental showed both English and Chinese versions of all major video presentations featured on our flights - especially the safety video, entertainment guides, and the Newark transfer guide. It helped much. Our flight was once put on hold a bit, as we were very early for our arrival. We finally landed on Runway 22L at 2:22pm, and we parked at Gate B65. I really like the new arrival hall, and love watching the planes as we waited on the long immigration line and baggage claim. My neighbor was this flight was a very nice gentlemen, who flew much around the Asian region. I introduced him to this website and hopefully he will read this report at some points. I had some interesting chats regarding the airlines. He is a big fan of Singapore Airlines and even told me about his Garuda experiences. He told me that Garuda was a fine carrier and the F/As tried to make the best out of the resources they had. He made a comment about Continental's Business First service as an "Executive Coach" service. I slightly disagreed because out of the all the US major airlines, I found Continental's Business class service to be excellent, although the flight attendants could do better. For a US carrier, you really can't get the same service as most Asian carriers. But CO tried its very best and I found United's Business class to be more "Executive Coach."
List of recommendations:
1. Begin the mid-flight refreshment about an hour later - about 7:30pm HK time.
2. Provide slippers like the Japanese routes.
3. Hire more Hong Kong based or Cantonese speaking F/As - always have one in Business class and two in Y class. Our Chinese flight attendant on this particular flight does not speak Cantonese but mandarin, which really do not help the American F/As much. The announcements are in mandarin and I doubt many Hong Kong people can understand it.
CO 1481 EWR-SEA Lv1850 Arr2155
Boeing 737-800 N35260
I went to the President's Club after passing the security checks at Newark Terminal C. I had about three hours, therefore I visited the News stall and the book shop before heading into the PC. The PC was much busier than my visit last time in the late morning hours. Anyway, I got a coke from the bar (just wonder how much tips should I give?), and took a seat in the comfortable sofa area. Magazine selections are limited but I got a copy of the GQ, with Tobey Maguire in the front page - I love his eyes and he is so adorable. I read the NYT and relaxed a bit. Our aircraft to Seattle arrived early from Denver, CO, and made its way into C102 earlier than expected. Good news - no delay. Boarding began at 6:27pm and I was welcomed by two very friendly flight attendants, which immediately offered me a pre-takeoff beverage of my choice. They were very kind and the service was excellent. The full Business First style service was offered. First class had a few vacant seats and Coach was about ¾ full. Door was closed three minutes early, but of course, we had to wait till 6:57pm before pushing back and headed to the takeoff line at Runway 4L. We took off at 7:19pm for our five hours and twenty seven minutes flight to Seattle. We climbed up to 35,000ft.
The movie, Behind Enemy Lines, CNN News, and an episode of "Third Rock from the Sun" were shown as entertainment this evening. Dinner was served and I was surprised to see the almost BF style presentation for dinner. A round of fresh hot towel began the service, followed by warm nuts and beverage of our choice. Here is the menu transcript.
TO BEGIN
Warm roasted nuts served with your preferred cocktail or beverage
APPETIZER CART
Herbed and peppered smoked salmon loin accompanied by cucumber and creamed horseradish
Very nice salmon!
SALAD
Seasonal greens featuring lollo rosso and Boston heart lettuce with cucumber and tomato slices
Offered with your choice of balsamic vinaigrette or buttermilk ranch dressing
Freshly baked bread and assorted rolls with butter
wheat rolls and sourdough loaves (much better than the HK sourdough loaves)
MAIN COURSES
Grilled Steak
Grilled Sterling Silver New York sirloin steak enhanced by morel mushroom sauce and roasted garlic, accompanied by mashed potatoes with minced black truffle, Sautéed spinach with butter and grilled cherry tomato
Steak was a bit over cooked and not tasty enough - United's kitchen seems to cook its steak better.
Breast of Chicken
Breast of free range chicken complemented by lemon butter sauce served with a ragout of artichoke, sun-dried tomatoes, olives and capers, toasted polenta and asparagus spears.
Red Snapper
Fillet of snapper with a potato crust, accented by lemon herb sauce, accompanied by char-grilled jumbo shrimp and sautéed plantain, fine green bean, red bell pepper and carrot julienne
Pasta Bowl
Ravioli filled with mushrooms and goat cheese complemented by piquant eggplant arrabbiata sauce with toasted pine nuts and pesto sauce
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese will be offered with your pasta
DESSERT
Vanilla ice cream offered with your choice of toppings
I had a lovely sundae with caramel sauce and chopped almonds. The flight attendant asked me if I wanted a photo, and happily took one with me holding the ice cream cup.
The flight continued with nonstop beverage refills and the service was really good. I took a nap until we were about forty five minutes from Seattle. Another round of hot towels were served after the captain indicated our descent into Seattle. We touched town on Seattle's Runway 16R at 9:45pm and quickly parked at gate B14. Then something bad had happened. I checked in at my West Coast Sea Tacoma hotel and was unpacking. Then I realized that I left my camera (brand new) on board with a roll of film. Then I called Continental immediately and the kindest reservation agent tried to find the lost and found number for Seattle airport, but could not find it. She then gave me the airport office number. Of course, no one picked up the phone, as they prepared the red eye flights. Then I hurried back into the airport and fortunately, two agents were at the desks. They tried to call baggage service and had yet to find anything. Then they checked my flight and realized that it had already returned to Newark. Then they saw my worried face and called the Houston gate and guessed what, they had found my camera and kept it with them, as they were working the last flight of the night. Thankfully, the agent gave me a pass to the gate and I wanted to thank "Nadine" the agent working at Seattle airport that evening. Thank you for your help! After all these chains of events, I knew I made the right decision in flying Continental.
Anyway, here is the end of my report one. I hope you will enjoy it. The next is the NWA's WBC service from SEA to TPE via NRT - obnoxious Seattle gate agents, crowded World Club, and a so called "full dinner" service on the NRT to TPE segment.
Carfield
[This message has been edited by Carfield (edited 03-19-2002).]
I have just returned from numerous trips, including part of a Star Alliance RTW trip. I flew British Midland and Lauda Air, which were excellent in terms of service. SQ continued to be good, but the cutback in food was getting too much. Northwest was a major disappointment and Continental was a good carrier. The trip reports will divide into many entries and I hope you will enjoy them. They will be posted as I complete them.
March 4, 2002
CO 98 HKG-EWR Lv1220 Arr1500
Boeing 777-200ER N78003
The flight began with an excellent check in experience. There were two J lines opened and the waiting time was pretty minimal with only a party in front of me. The Business First concierge was hanging around the desks and gave me her card immediately. Her name was Ada and she was extremely nice. She wrote out the lounge invitations into EWR and made sure that I knew the transfer process. The check in agent was also friendly and she apologized for the long check in time… I honestly did not find this check in process to be too excessively long. With the new security features, they were all trying the best to finish the check in. Priority tags were already placed and they even asked me for my business card, so they could make a personalized tag for me. I was surprised at the high level of ground services, which was handled by Dragon Air. I went to the Dragon Air lounge, which was excellent with wide ranges of beverage and snacks, including sandwiches, dim sum, and soup, but of course, CX the Wing is still the best. Gate today was 22, which was pretty close to the main terminal, and was a nice location - no need to take the underground. Boarding time was 11:30am and there was secondary searches for random parties. I boarded late, as I wanted to talk on my mobile a bit longer. Unlike other Continental flights, no pre-flight beverages were offered. Menus and amenity kits were handed out as we boarded, and the flight attendants today were a bit manual - follow the book type - not unfriendly, but normal. Door was closed early and we pushed back nine minutes early. We took off from Runway 7R at 12:28pm.
Flying time was fourteen hours and fifty four minutes. We first climbed to 29,000ft as we headed towards Taipei and Okinawa, Japan. We climbed to 33,000ft as we cruised along the coast of Japan. Then we climbed to 35,000ft as we got into the Siberian coast and into the Bristol Bay of Alaska. We passed through Anchorage and climbed once again to 37,000ft into the Yukon terriortory of Canada. We passed by Whitehorse, Flin Fon of Manitoba, Thunder Bay, Lake Superior, Sault Sainte Marie, and descended to 33,000ft as we passed by Toronto. Then we began our descent at Ithaca and made our way to Newark.
Cabin service began with hot towels at 12:48pm and linen was placed on our tables, with beverage and nuts service next. As usual, appetizers were served in a cart, as well as cheese, fruit, and dessert. Here is the menu transcript.
TO BEGIN
Warm roasted nuts served with your preferred cocktail or beverage
APPETIZER CART
Smoked tuna and saffron shrimp with cocktail sauce
Black Forest ham and air-dried beef with melon
Very nice appetizers… I like the ham and melon…
SALAD
Fresh seasonal greens including iceberg and romaine lettuce, lollo rosso and frisée with cucumber, red bell pepper and crispy noodles
Offered with your choice of ginger soy or creamy herb dressing
Freshly baked bread and assorted rolls with butter
hard & soft rolls with the sourdough loaves
MAIN COURSES
The Chef's Selection
Grilled veal chop offered with morel mushroom sauce, accompanied by mashed potatoes with fried onions
Salsify with herb butter Grilled cherry tomato Broccoli
Breast of Chicken
Grilled breast of chicken complemented by cognac sauce, served with a stir-fried vegetable mix including carrots, bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms and red and green bell peppers
Steamed white rice Carrot and daikon julienne
Turbot
Seared turbot enhanced by lemon herb sauce, presented with sliced carrot and zucchini
Turned potatoes with parsley Sautéed spinach with butter
Chinese Noodle Bowl
Flat egg noodles accompanied by sliced beef with black bean sauce, red bell pepper and choy sum
Steamed white rice is available upon request to accompany any entree
I had this entrée, which was very good, especially the use of flat noodles. It was much better than the pasta with Chinese sauce on the EWR to HKG route.
FRUIT AND CHEESE
Select cheeses accompanied by fresh seasonal fruit, assorted cheese crackers and rolls, served with Port wine
Gouda, Cheddar, and Camembert cheese with crackers, & fruit includes papaya, orange, grapes, & pineapples
DESSERT CART
Featuring vanilla ice cream offered with your choice of toppings or warm fruit cobbler with vanilla ice cream
After ice cream sundae, I was pretty full with lunch. Bottles of Vittel mineral water were passed out, with more bottles placed in the Sky Snack station. Then I felt right to sleep, as I stayed up pretty late the previous evening.
SKYSNACKSTM
A selection of light snacks and refreshments will be available.
Corn chips, potato chips, salad pretz (bread sticks), cereal bar, Chinese cookies, biscotti, and the disgusting summer harvest mix were featured. The snacks were gone pretty quickly, but the F/As tried to refill the basket.
*****
At about 6:30pm Hong Kong time, the refreshment service began with a round of hot towel and set up. I personally found the refreshment was served too early. I think the F/As can wait for another hour and half before beginning the refreshment service, as Hong Kong people went to dinner pretty late… at around 8pm. Anyway, the F/A serving our sections seem to be a bit lazy because she did not offer a separate beverage service… only water. However, on the other side, the F/A made sure that everyone got a beverage of the choice. It really looked bad, when your colleague was doing the complete service. Anyway, it was just a minor detail.
MID-FLIGHT REFRESHMENT
Chinese Noodle Soup
Roast duck and Lai-fan rice noodle soup accented by choy sum, carrots and yellow chives
Excellent noodles… they are real local noodles, not just instant noodles. Everyone got a bowl of noodles as starters and most Americans enjoy the bowl of noodles.
*****
Assortment of Dim Sum
Chicken bun accompanied by siu mai and dumpling
Thai chile sauce Soy sauce
The dim sum was much better than the EWR-HKG segment. But the portion was a bit small, compared to the sandwiches.
Or
Selection of Open-faced Sandwiches
Roast beef with gherkin pickle
Zucchini, sun-dried tomato and grilled bell pepper
Smoked salmon and capers
Chocolate
Truffles were served with a choice of white, milk, or dark chocolate flavor
At about 1:30am in Hong Kong, the light meal service began with another round of hot towels. Individual set up with a bread basket, consisting of croissants, crack rolls, and muffin, began the service.
LIGHT MEAL
Fresh seasonal fruit
2 pineapple slices, melon, ½ strawberry, papaya, and grapefruits were presented.
Assorted breads including crusty rolls, wheat croissants and pineapple buns with butter and strawberry preserves
*****
Rice Bowl
Egg fried rice with char-siu pork
Sautéed diced carrot, mushroom, celery and peas
Very nice rice bowl and I especially recommended the Chinese food selection on the HKG outbound flight, especially the HKG kitchen prepared the food.
Leek and Bacon Quiche
Offered with grilled chicken apple sausage, grilled Canadian bacon and a cherry tomato
Congee
Traditional Chinese rice soup
accompanied by sliced beef with roasted peanuts
Szechuan cucumbers Pickled cucumber
*****
Chocolate
Lucullus - a Hong Kong famous brand was featured. Milk and Dark chocolate truffles…
We began our descent at 2:45am and a video about Newark was presented. I really liked how Continental showed both English and Chinese versions of all major video presentations featured on our flights - especially the safety video, entertainment guides, and the Newark transfer guide. It helped much. Our flight was once put on hold a bit, as we were very early for our arrival. We finally landed on Runway 22L at 2:22pm, and we parked at Gate B65. I really like the new arrival hall, and love watching the planes as we waited on the long immigration line and baggage claim. My neighbor was this flight was a very nice gentlemen, who flew much around the Asian region. I introduced him to this website and hopefully he will read this report at some points. I had some interesting chats regarding the airlines. He is a big fan of Singapore Airlines and even told me about his Garuda experiences. He told me that Garuda was a fine carrier and the F/As tried to make the best out of the resources they had. He made a comment about Continental's Business First service as an "Executive Coach" service. I slightly disagreed because out of the all the US major airlines, I found Continental's Business class service to be excellent, although the flight attendants could do better. For a US carrier, you really can't get the same service as most Asian carriers. But CO tried its very best and I found United's Business class to be more "Executive Coach."
List of recommendations:
1. Begin the mid-flight refreshment about an hour later - about 7:30pm HK time.
2. Provide slippers like the Japanese routes.
3. Hire more Hong Kong based or Cantonese speaking F/As - always have one in Business class and two in Y class. Our Chinese flight attendant on this particular flight does not speak Cantonese but mandarin, which really do not help the American F/As much. The announcements are in mandarin and I doubt many Hong Kong people can understand it.
CO 1481 EWR-SEA Lv1850 Arr2155
Boeing 737-800 N35260
I went to the President's Club after passing the security checks at Newark Terminal C. I had about three hours, therefore I visited the News stall and the book shop before heading into the PC. The PC was much busier than my visit last time in the late morning hours. Anyway, I got a coke from the bar (just wonder how much tips should I give?), and took a seat in the comfortable sofa area. Magazine selections are limited but I got a copy of the GQ, with Tobey Maguire in the front page - I love his eyes and he is so adorable. I read the NYT and relaxed a bit. Our aircraft to Seattle arrived early from Denver, CO, and made its way into C102 earlier than expected. Good news - no delay. Boarding began at 6:27pm and I was welcomed by two very friendly flight attendants, which immediately offered me a pre-takeoff beverage of my choice. They were very kind and the service was excellent. The full Business First style service was offered. First class had a few vacant seats and Coach was about ¾ full. Door was closed three minutes early, but of course, we had to wait till 6:57pm before pushing back and headed to the takeoff line at Runway 4L. We took off at 7:19pm for our five hours and twenty seven minutes flight to Seattle. We climbed up to 35,000ft.
The movie, Behind Enemy Lines, CNN News, and an episode of "Third Rock from the Sun" were shown as entertainment this evening. Dinner was served and I was surprised to see the almost BF style presentation for dinner. A round of fresh hot towel began the service, followed by warm nuts and beverage of our choice. Here is the menu transcript.
TO BEGIN
Warm roasted nuts served with your preferred cocktail or beverage
APPETIZER CART
Herbed and peppered smoked salmon loin accompanied by cucumber and creamed horseradish
Very nice salmon!
SALAD
Seasonal greens featuring lollo rosso and Boston heart lettuce with cucumber and tomato slices
Offered with your choice of balsamic vinaigrette or buttermilk ranch dressing
Freshly baked bread and assorted rolls with butter
wheat rolls and sourdough loaves (much better than the HK sourdough loaves)
MAIN COURSES
Grilled Steak
Grilled Sterling Silver New York sirloin steak enhanced by morel mushroom sauce and roasted garlic, accompanied by mashed potatoes with minced black truffle, Sautéed spinach with butter and grilled cherry tomato
Steak was a bit over cooked and not tasty enough - United's kitchen seems to cook its steak better.
Breast of Chicken
Breast of free range chicken complemented by lemon butter sauce served with a ragout of artichoke, sun-dried tomatoes, olives and capers, toasted polenta and asparagus spears.
Red Snapper
Fillet of snapper with a potato crust, accented by lemon herb sauce, accompanied by char-grilled jumbo shrimp and sautéed plantain, fine green bean, red bell pepper and carrot julienne
Pasta Bowl
Ravioli filled with mushrooms and goat cheese complemented by piquant eggplant arrabbiata sauce with toasted pine nuts and pesto sauce
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese will be offered with your pasta
DESSERT
Vanilla ice cream offered with your choice of toppings
I had a lovely sundae with caramel sauce and chopped almonds. The flight attendant asked me if I wanted a photo, and happily took one with me holding the ice cream cup.
The flight continued with nonstop beverage refills and the service was really good. I took a nap until we were about forty five minutes from Seattle. Another round of hot towels were served after the captain indicated our descent into Seattle. We touched town on Seattle's Runway 16R at 9:45pm and quickly parked at gate B14. Then something bad had happened. I checked in at my West Coast Sea Tacoma hotel and was unpacking. Then I realized that I left my camera (brand new) on board with a roll of film. Then I called Continental immediately and the kindest reservation agent tried to find the lost and found number for Seattle airport, but could not find it. She then gave me the airport office number. Of course, no one picked up the phone, as they prepared the red eye flights. Then I hurried back into the airport and fortunately, two agents were at the desks. They tried to call baggage service and had yet to find anything. Then they checked my flight and realized that it had already returned to Newark. Then they saw my worried face and called the Houston gate and guessed what, they had found my camera and kept it with them, as they were working the last flight of the night. Thankfully, the agent gave me a pass to the gate and I wanted to thank "Nadine" the agent working at Seattle airport that evening. Thank you for your help! After all these chains of events, I knew I made the right decision in flying Continental.
Anyway, here is the end of my report one. I hope you will enjoy it. The next is the NWA's WBC service from SEA to TPE via NRT - obnoxious Seattle gate agents, crowded World Club, and a so called "full dinner" service on the NRT to TPE segment.
Carfield
[This message has been edited by Carfield (edited 03-19-2002).]